Fighting HIV/AIDS: Religious scholar for better awareness

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan’s future generations can be protected from HIV/AIDS by spreading awareness about effective precautionary measures among children, a prominent religious scholar of Islamabad said on Thursday.

Maulana Aftab Hussain Al Jawadi, of Islamabad’s Jamia Al-Kausar, said children should be offered guidelines so they are fully aware about the ways the fatal disease is transferred and the ways they can protect themselves from it.

According to 2011 estimates by the UNAIDS, Pakistan has around 130,000 people that are affected by HIV/AIDS. The number has grown by 32,000 since 2009. The growing number of HIV positive cases has moved Pakistan in the “concentrated epidemic” category from the “low prevalence - high risk” category.

The government only included HIV/AIDS in its National Health Policy in 2009.

HIV is transmitted through unprotected sexual contact with an HIV infected partner; transfusion of HIV infected blood and sharing of unsterilized syringes or needles with HIV positive person; and HIV infected mother to child during pregnancy and breast feeding.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2013.